Politics & International Relations | The UK's EU Referendum

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has announced a referendum on whether Britain should remain in the European Union - to be held on Thursday 23 June.

This article supplies information, and highlights titles which are relevant to the topic, and not only that - we have put together a collection of curated chapters surrounding the topic to create our The EU, Euroscepticism and Brexit FreeBook.

Routledge has curated a virtual special issue and opinion pieces from thought leaders, including some of our own journal editors. This collection will be free to access until the 31st July, explore it via this exclusive link.

Key Facts and Articles

Why is a referendum being held?Britain had a
referendum in 1975 shortly after it had joined the EU, or the Common Market as it was then called. The country voted to stay in then but there have been growing calls, from the public and politicians, for another vote because, they argue, the EU has changed a lot over the past 40 years, with many more countries joining and the organisation extending its control over more aspects of daily lives. David Cameron initially resisted these calls but in 2013 he changed his mind.
-- BBC,
The UK's EU referendum: All you need to know

The referendum will ask British voters this question: "Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?"
-- The Telegraph,
EU referendum: What is it and when is it?

This collection of forthcoming and published Routledge material related to the approaching British EU membership referendum offers timely and expert commentary from academics and journalists on this crucial event. Excerpted from some of our key relevant titles, it looks backwards as well as forwards, provides critical assessment and context, and is introduced with a specially commissioned overview essay by Dr Nick Startin, University of Bath.

Key Titles

4th Edition

Exploring British Politics is a concise, comprehensive and accessible guide to the subject. Fully updated and revised, the new edition covers the 2015 general election and recent developments in the role of political parties, changes in party ideology, the UK's relationship with the European Union,…

On Extremism and Democracy in Europe is a collection of short and accessible essays on the far right, populism, Euroscepticism, and liberal democracy by one of the leading academic and public voices today. It includes both sober, fact-based analysis of the often sensationalized "rise of the far…

Socialization, negotiations and disaggregation of the state

EU foreign and defence policy is largely formulated in the working parties and committees of the Council of the EU and the vast majority of decisions in this field are made by the national diplomats working in the around 35 groups of the CFSP/CSDP.
Although the importance of these committees and…

Faith in the European Project

The current political, economic and financial crises facing the EU reveal a deeper cultural, indeed spiritual, malaise – a crisis in ‘the soul of Europe’. Many observers are concluding that the EU cannot be restored to health without a new appreciation of the contribution of religion to its past…

A Critical Assessment

The Treaty on the European Union stipulates that one of the key objectives of the Union is to provide citizens with a high level of safety within an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. Given that the fight against terrorism is a prominent aspect of this general objective, it is remarkable that,…

EU Crisis Management in the Western Mediterranean

This book contributes to the ongoing debate in IR on the role of security communities and formulates a new mechanism-based analytical framework.
It argues that the question we need to ask is how security communities work at a time when armed conflicts among states have become significantly less…

The case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

This book examines lobbying in EU foreign policy-making and the activities of non-state actors (NSAs), focusing on EU foreign policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It sheds light on the interactions between the EU and NSAs as well as the ways in which NSAs attempt to shape EU foreign policies…

The Routledge Handbook of European Elections explores the multifaceted dimension of the European Parliament’s (EP) electoral contests across the European Community and European Union since 1979.
After setting a general empirical and theoretical framework, this collaborative project presents…

Parties for Europe, Parties against Europe

In a moment where the EU is facing an important number of challenges, there is growing interest in understanding how parties influence the way Europe evolves as a political issue, notably how parties structure domestic competition over European issues and they mobilise sentiments in referenda over…

The European Union’s stalled expansion, the Euro deficit and emerging crises of economic and political sovereignty in Greece, Italy and Spain have significantly altered the image of the EU as a model of progressive civilization. However, despite recent events the EU maintains its international…

Power and policy-making, 4th Edition

A key textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate students of contemporary European politics, European Union: Power and policy-making 4th edition offers a comprehensive and accessible analysis of the European Union policy process.
Intended to advance understanding of the EU as a now mature and…

Since the Treaty of the European Union was ratified in 1993, the European Union has become an important factor in an ever-increasing number of regimes of pooled sovereignty. This Handbook seeks to present a valuable guide to this new and unique system in the twenty-first century, allowing…

2nd Edition

What has been the political impact of the Eurozone Debt Crisis in the UK? To what extent have the bank collapses and bailouts reinforced Britain’s Eurosceptic trajectory? In this revised and updated second edition Chris Gifford addresses these key questions reflecting on the Labour government’s…

The European Union is facing a profound crisis and is confronted with multiple challenges. Over the last two decades, it has experienced a series of dramatic changes to its powers, its institutional design, its constitutional framework and its borders. At the same time, the uneasy relationship…

Over the last two decades British politics has undergone a remarkable transformation. While some components of the system have been eroded, such as voter turnout and membership of the big parties, other parts have flourished, such as nationalist parties, the insurgent UKIP, as well as the new media…